A Modest Proposal to Resolve Teacher Bargaining
Thursday, March 8, 2012 @ 3:44 AM
Bob Simpson MLA Cariboo North
Both the Provincial Government and the BC Teachers’ Federation are responsible for the dysfunctional state of collective bargaining in the K-12 system. This isn’t my assessment alone. It’s also the assessment of Commissioner Don Wright, who investigated this issue in 2004, and of mediator Vince Ready in 2007.
The dysfunctional relationship between the BC Government (including when the NDP were in power) and the BCTF has led to all but one collective agreement being legislated since 1994.
That single “successful” 5-year collective agreement in 2006 occurred after an illegal strike by the teachers, a court fine against the BCTF for contempt, and the appointment of Vince Ready as a facilitator.
But, a number of long standing issues still remained unresolved, especially the issues of class size and composition and BCTF’s desire to return to district bargaining rather than the provincial bargaining structure the NDP imposed on them in 1994. These issues are front and center in this round of negotiations.
The problem with the current structure is that if the government doesn’t like what the BCTF proposes, or it wants to reduce education spending, it can simply push the BCTF up against the wall forcing a strike and then use this as an excuse to legislate a collective agreement in the name of “protecting BC’s school children.”
We need a different system and I proposed this week that Don Wright’s 2004 recommendations be implemented. This would put a new structure to the collective bargaining process leading to binding arbitration if negotiations are not successful. I believe this would add more honesty to the process and, as Commissioner Wright suggested, create a “mature” collective bargaining process for the K-12 system.
I also proposed $280 million in new money for the education system from a restoration of the corporate industrial school tax that Gordon Campbell cut in 2008. This tax was cut as part of Campbell’s “stimulus package” and it’s now rationalized as part the “revenue neutral” carbon tax. I don’t believe we got one job out of this tax cut and the over $70 million/year of forgone revenue as a result of this cut would be better spent in our school system.
I’ve also, once again, called on the government to stop charging our schools for bogus carbon offsets. This will rob $13 million from classrooms over the next three years to fund private sector projects.
Comments
We need more rational independents like Bob Simpson in the legislature IMO. I think its the parties that intentionally create this us verse them atmosphere because that’s how they get power. It doesn’t serve BC very well.
“The dysfunctional relationship between the BC Government (including when the NDP were in power) and the BCTF has led to all but one collective agreement being legislated since 1994.”
The fact that the NDP and the BCTF too had a dysfunctional relationship will never be admitted by any of those shrill voices who put ALL the blame on the Liberals.
Leaving all politics out of the equation and simply concentrating on the issues of class size and benefits would go a long ways towards a solution.
Is that going to happen? Not if history is allowed to repeat itself!
Naming a portion of our society an essential service, to me implies a couple things. If essential, it must be done whatever the cost to both the employer and the employee. If essential, it must perform at or above some standard.
To my knowledge, there never had been any open discussion held to define what services should be designated as essential or what standard such services must achieve.
With our school system, the essential designation appears to be a way of denying the employees any way of being able to negotiate a comprehensive contract covering both wages and working conditions (there is no way of separating working conditions from learning conditions in schools).
Europe and North America have become the dominate people in the world partly because we have had very good ways to make our populations literate and able to think critically. Maintaining our present dysfunctional school system’s labour management climate with bills like Bill 22 is going to serve no one well. Democratic institutions need literate and critically thinking people. Poor literacy and manipulated people yield unstable and inequitable societies.
When an election is called I believe a good thing would be for the NDP to get office with a minority government.(Let me point out I have never and will never vote NDP).Lets see how they deal with all the issues they have been harping about and when things donot improve kick their butts out once and for all. They have been in power in BC on 2 different occasions and screwed thing up both times. Last time they were in power they could not even hold on to a leader.Great team.Then half of them jumped ship before the election including their 2 mla’s in PG that saw the Liberals win all but 2 seats.
Steve Cooley:”To my knowledge, there never had been any open discussion held to define what services should be designated as essential or what standard such services must achieve.”
Guide to the Labour Relations Code
Province of British Columbia
Chapter Seven
Essential Services
The Code requires employers and unions to maintain certain essential services to the public when they take job action in a labour dispute. Essential services are those related to the health, safety or the welfare of British Columbia residents, or to the provision of primary or secondary educational programs.
If the Minister of Labour and Citizens’ Services considers that a labour dispute poses a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the residents of the province, or to the provision of primary or secondary educational programs, he or she may direct the Board to designate essential services. Designation of essential services involves identifying the facilities and levels of service needed to prevent immediate and serious danger to the public or to prevent immediate and serious disruption to educational programs. When the Board designates services as essential, the employer is required to provide those services, and the union is required to allow its members to perform those services in the event of a strike or lockout.
One of the issues that needs to be considered is the necessary staffing levels required for various services. The employer and union involved generally work together with the assistance of a mediator to determine what services should be designated as essential and the staffing levels required. If agreement cannot be reached, the Board determines the essential services and staffing levels.
If no strike or lockout has started before the Board begins its designation process, the parties are not allowed to begin any such action until the designation process has been completed. The Code does establish tight time frames for the process of designation to occur. This process cannot be used to stall a union’s right to job action.
If a strike or lockout has begun, it may continue but will be subject to any essential service designation by the Board. In this case, the union and employer may be required to restore services that have been shut down.
In all the time I have been reading these and other posts, these above have got to be the most reasoned, mature, intelligent comments I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
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